MembersSocial Media Activists Shutter Terrorist Facebook Page

The full story behind how Israeli activists compelled the social media giant to stop facilitating Palestinian terrorism

By Yossi Aloni | | Topics: arab press
Members of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement march with a burning coffin bearing the faces of Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90

Following a campaign by Act-IL and Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), the official Facebook page of Fatah, the ruling faction of supposedly “moderate” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, has been taken offline.

Under the hashtag #CloseFatahFB, the activists mobilized thousands of volunteers from 74 countries who sent over 4,000 emails and thousands of Facebook abuse reports in response to the Fatah page repeatedly praising the terrorist murderers of Israeli Jews. Fatah’s page had 224,000 followers and 187,000 Likes, making it one of the most significant sources of incitement on Facebook.

During the course of the two-week campaign, the Israeli activists made 15 calls-to-action via the Act-IL app, leading to thousands of emails sent directly to Facebook management. After Facebook responded by temporarily suspending the page, Fatah posted ad hoc messages regarding the campaign against Palestinian incitement, calling on its followers to show their support by posting screenshots of the Israeli anti-terror effort. Hours later, Facebook disabled the Fatah page entirely.

Yarden Ben Yosef, CEO of Act-IL, said: “Our community has once again demonstrated how a massive network of volunteers taking responsibility and meaningful actions on social...

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